Chapter 376: 376. Guard of the Keys

“Dal?” Euryale asked. “Everything alright?”

“Yeah,” Dallion replied, even if he didn’t sound like it was. Only now did he come to realize how large and complicated the real world really was, and so much of it seemed to be linked to this city; not Nerosal, but the one before it. If Nil’s reasoning was correct, the Archduke of the province was also involved, as were the Academy, the Emperor, and possibly some foreign powers as well. “I was just thinking about something.”

“Don’t keep us in suspense,” the gorgon said.

“Did any of you spot any living creatures since we got down here?”

“One,” Vend said.

“A few,” Eury added.

That was much more than Dallion had managed to see. Still, it meant two things: that there weren’t any dangerous predators, and more important—he could try out his new skill on them. According to the rectangle’s description, Zoology was also supposed to allow Dallion to communicate with creatures as well, and if there was anyone who would know the layout beneath the city, it was them.

Nox, do you sense anything? Dallion asked, just in case.

The crackling mewed sadly. Being a dagger guardian didn’t help when it came to the real world, at least not the wilderness.

“Can you catch any?” Dallion pressed on.

It was expected that Vend would be able to do something of the sort with his speed and splitting capability, but the man just shook his head. In contrast, Euryale just sighed.

“How much do you need?” she asked.

“A few,” Dallion said, uncertain what answer she wanted to hear. “Whatever’s easiest.”

Several of the snakes twitched, after which the gorgon disappeared in the darkness of the tunnels.

“Don’t you need any light?” Dallion shouted behind her.

“Gorgons don’t need much light,” Vend said. “They don’t need any light. They also don’t like being lied to.”

“I know.” Dallion deliberately avoided feigning ignorance. There was a time when he actually believed that a quick defense would be believable. That was ten leveling-up trials ago. Now he could see how gullible he had been.

It took fifteen minutes for Euryale to return with a handful of rats. When Dallion saw them, he immediately understood how she had managed to do so easily what Vend couldn't. It wasn't a matter of speed or reactions… it was a matter of abilities. The rats that she had brought were no longer alive in the normal sense of the word—they had been transformed into statues.

“Take your pick,” Euryale said, holding ex-rodents in front of him in both hands.

A person’s normal reaction would have been to feel at least a small amount of fear or disgust at the sight of petrified creatures. Instead, Dallion found it rather impressive.

Taking one gently, he then held it right, pressing the end of the kaleidervisto on its head. Knowing what was expected of him, Lux’s flame grew brighter.

“Barbecued granite?” Vend asked, somewhat intrigued by what Dallion was doing.

“Healing fire,” Dallion explained. “Apparently petrification is a condition.”

Before everyone’s eyes, the rat “statue” changed color. Slowly the gray tones faded away, replaced by a dirty brown. Soon enough, the creature was breathing once more. To everyone’s surprise, though, it didn’t try to escape Dallion’s grip, or even bite him. One could almost assume that it was a specially trained pet or familiar.

Can you hear me? Dallion thought.

The creature didn’t react. It seemed that mind-talking was reserved for guardians.

“I’ll let you go, now,” Dallion said. The rat squiggled around so as to look at him. “It’s fine.” Dallion smiled, adding some calm to his words as he spoke. “Just don’t run away, okay?”

Gently he placed the creature on the stone floor. The rat remained there, sniffing the air, uncertain what to do.

“Have you felt any chainlings while you were down here?”

Once again, there was no reaction. Dallion could feel that the creature wanted to help, but just couldn’t understand what was asked from him. Apparently, communication methods weren’t the same as understanding. Given the way skills worked, most likely Dallion was going to have to increase his Zoology level before he could lead a proper conversation. Regardless, he could still rely on his music skills.

“Have you seen this?” Dallion drew his Nox dagger.

Upon seeing the weapon’s edge, the rat squeaked in terror. Dallion could feel fear overwhelm it, rendering it unable even to run away. Instantly, Dallion put the weapon again. There was only one thing in this world that would make a rat have such a reaction to a crackling: a similar type of Star-spawn, or namely a chainling.

“Where is it?” Dallion asked, infusing the words with a desire for help.

The rat started running down one of the tunnels, but then stopped and went back towards Dallion. Fear fought with eagerness, neither emerging as the clear winner.

“Lead me to where it is,” Dallion said again, adding a hint of bravery. “There’s no need to worry. I’ll be right behind you.”

There was a moment more of hesitation, but in the end, the bravery tipped the scales, causing the rat to move forward.

“Sometimes watching you reminds me how scary you can become,” Vend said. “How did you do that?”

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“The miracle of mid-level music,” Dallion lied. “It’ll take us where the nearest ring is.”

“What do we do with the rest of them?” Euryale was still holding the rest of the rat statues.

“Take them along. I’ll restore them later.”

That wasn’t the answer that the gorgon wanted to hear. Still, she wasn’t in the mood to have arguments with Dallion, so she shoved them in a few of her pouches and followed.

The walking continued for quite a while. Dallion stopped trying to keep track of which tunnels they took, relying on Euryale’s memory and perception ability. As a hunter and a gorgon, she probably was used to this sort of thing. It wouldn’t have come as a surprise if she had gone through similar situations out in the wilderness when exploring other ruins.

After turning round another corner, Dallion—and everyone else—suddenly saw a faint light in the distance.

Lux, out! Dallion said instinctively.

The blue flame coming from the kaleidervisto went out. This made the light ahead even more visible. From this distance, it seemed to faint as candlelight. The rat, meanwhile, sensing the vibes change, scurried away in the opposite direction of the light.

“Do you think it’s one of the guards?” Dallion whispered, so that only awakened in the vicinity would hear.

“Guards don’t have a reason to remain quiet,” Euryale whispered back and put on her combat gauntlets. Before she could take a step forward, however, Vend made a sign for her to stay put.

“I’ll go,” he said, then burst into instances.

Concentrating on his focus, Dallion was able to see a dozen instances of the elite move forward, each following a different path. Every few steps the instances would fade away, then emerge again, like the inside of a combustion engine. Once all instances were a safe distance away, Dallion and Eury followed suit.

The tunnel from where the source of the light was coming from led to a small side chamber, which continued to a larger hall further down. Vend was already by the hall entrance by the time Dallion and Eury caught up. There was another case of combat splitting, after which the elite held his hand up, indicating that the rest of the trio approached quietly.

“What’s there?” Dallion whispered once he got next to Vend.

“Remember when you said that the rat will lead us to the Vermillion ring? The ring is not alone.”

That made Dallion concerned. Splitting into five instances, he peeked in the chamber with four of them to get a better look. The chamber was much different from what Dallion expected. Unlike the rest of the tunnels they had gone through, there were clear signs that at some point in the past this had belonged to a magnificent building. Statues of crystal, though partially covered with dust, displayed scenes of majesty and glory. The unusual thing was that unlike most statues Dallion had seen so far, these weren’t humanoid by any stretch of the imagination, but statues of slime creatures in various states of being. In some cases, they were small and roundish, in others they were stretched up like twisted strands of jelly, always adorned with unique jewels and pieces of armor. It was little wonder that the majority of artifacts that Dallion had to explore had such strange shapes—most of them weren’t made to be used by humans. One of the slime statues even had a kaleidervisto half-way in its head, like a sort of slime monocle.

That explains how this was used, Dallion thought.

Amid the hall of statues, next to a dimly lit lantern, a guard leaned against a column of blue marble. He had the appearance of a standard city guard, but Dallion couldn’t sense any emotions in him. Splitting into another set of instances, Dallion looked at the man through his kaleidervisto. The guard changed into a black silhouette.

They’ve even infiltrated the city guard, Dallion thought.

It’s not impossible, Nil mused. Although, that might not be the case. It’s easier to find the clothes of a guard. As long as he’s in a place where no one knows him and no questions are asked, he could pass for the real thing.

Come on! Dallion found that impossible to believe. Although given how everything in the world worked, maybe it wasn’t so far-fetched. There was no benefit of someone dressing as a city guard, so people wouldn’t even consider doubting it. A fake city guard definitely wouldn’t be able to harm the noble they were protecting. In most cases, a fake would be instantly discovered, although not if their only goal was to quickly gain access to an area that wasn’t open to the public.

“It’s a chainling,” Dallion whispered. “In a guard’s uniform.”

“Not good,” Vend said. “It’s time to go back. We can’t take something like that alone.”

As much as Dallion wanted to try out his spark ability in real life, he tended to agree. Even he could see that the risk was huge. On the other hand, things weren’t going to get better. Right now, they had the element of surprise. If they were to wait and tell anyone what they found, apart from getting into serious trouble, they risked tipping off another hidden cultist.

“I’ll take him,” Euryale said. “Just be sure to stay behind me.”

“If you say so,” Vend said in untypically passively-aggressive fashion.

“Just stay nearby and make sure he doesn’t do anything unexpected. I’ll petrify him. After that…” the gorgon paused. “We’ll see what we’ll do after that.”

I can help out, Gleam said in Dallion’s realm.

Harp, what do you think? Dallion wasn’t fully convinced.

Gleam will be more useful here, the harpsisword said, her voice still a combination of harp sounds. I'm better suited for the realms.

“When do we go?” Dallion asked.

“Now.” Euryale replied and dashed forward.

Like phantoms, the trio entered the chamber, moving so fast that a double digit wouldn’t even register them. Even Dallion was able to keep up with the other two. To a side observer, it would have seemed like they changed location in the blink of the eye. The chainling, though, was no ordinary observer. The moment they crossed the threshold, it stepped away from the column, ready to face them. There were no weapons in its hands—the chainling didn’t need them, instead transforming its hands into ten-inch shard covered claws.

“Nice trick,” Euryale said and opened her eyes. Behind her, Vend and Dallion stood ready. Dallion had already drawn his whip blade, ready to unleash Gleam, if it came to that. Vend had already entered his state of constant combat splitting, instances moving about, all of them careful not to step in front of the gorgon.

Faced with all that, the chainling calmly looked Euryale in the eyes and winced.

Uh-oh, Dallion thought. Apparently, there were creatures not susceptible to a gorgon’s gaze.

 

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